Edgar Degas
1834-1917Woman at her toilet: the washbasin
Monotype, c.1880-83
Bequeathed by A. S. F. Gow through the National Art Collections Fund 1978

Degas achieved the very painterly quality in this print by first coating a printing plate with a
layer of ink and then wiping and brushing the ink away to create the image. It is one of a number
executed in a similar technique, called 'dark manner' monotypes, alluding to the mezzotint printmaking process where the artist works from dark to light.
Monotypes are so-called because almost all of the ink is transferred onto the paper during printing,
meaning only one impression is usually achievable. However, Degas often printed a second impression,
sometimes from the plate itself (called a 'cognate') and sometimes from the still-wet first impression
(a 'counterproof'). He would then work over the second, paler impression with coloured pastels. The
faint inscription on this print indicates that it is a first impression. This print belongs to a group
of monotypes thought to date from 1880-3, which focus on one of the main themes in Degas's work - that
of women engaged in the private act of bathing.